Word for Word
by The Controlled Chaos Alchemist
Summary: Nobody ever tells us straight-up what exactly happened the day the turtles got mutated. Here is the- possibly- true account of those events from the views of six people: The turtles, Splinter, and April's own mother. 2k12-verse, can be seen as AU, no pairings.
1. The Rat Master

Word for Word

**AN: Hey, CCA here! I've noticed that there aren't really too many fanfictions that actually go into detail on the events leading up to, including, and after the turtles' mutation. I'm here to fix that. Enjoy the fanfiction, as I had fun writing it! ^^ I also edited some things, like certain character details, and did some research to make it more accurate and realistic. Beatrice O'Neil is April's mother, and she works at the pet store (I based her personality off of my friend Hope). The Kraang kidnap her after Yoshi/Splinter has his encounter with them. Also, in case you haven't already guessed, this is the 2012 series. HATERS GONNA HATE, TUTRLES GONNA TURT, QUACK. If you aren't a fan of the 2012 series of TMNT, I suggest you get out now before you rage-flame and make me flame you back. So there will be 6 chapters: one for each of the turtles, Hamato/Splinter, and Beatrice. Yes, I know, a little overboard, but I want to cover all of their POV's to make sure I supply everyone with all the info they need on how each person/mutant felt on the whole situation.**

**Don't worry, I'll get back to April and the Beast, just that this will be a little faster in writing. I need to rewatch the movie to continue on for AatB.**

**DISCLAIMER: Do I LOOK like a couple of middle-aged men with awesome ideas? No, I look like a ****vertically challenged**** female freshman with awesome fanfiction powers. Now, read my story or BEGONE!**

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Chapter 1: The Rat Master

Hamato Yoshi strolled down the New York City street in late October, absentmindedly meandering as he was lost to his memories. It almost seemed as if the fire still engulfed him, his wife and child screaming in agony as his former friend, Oroku Saki stalked off in his sick pleasure of revenge as his mind wandered back to the August day his life in Japan ended. Yoshi blinked out of the memory, finding himself in front of one of the several pet shops on Myrtle Ave. Looking at the sign, he saw that the name of the shop was _Bob's Tropical Pet Center Inc_. He stared a few moments at the sign on the window, declaring to the world, '_TURTLES 4 SALE_' as if it was the best thing on the planet. He stared a few moments longer before finally deciding once more to move on. As he walked on, one of the workers had noticed him staring at the sign. Her nametag read _Bea O'Neil_. "Excuse me, sir. Would you like to look at our other animals? We don't have just turtles, you know." The ginger woman pointed out as she carried a sack of hamster bedding into the shop. Yoshi, against his better judgment, followed the woman into the store and glanced around at the variety of animals.

As he passed a cage of rats, he wrinkled his nose slightly. He had honestly never been really fond of any rodents in general, knowing of how they must gnaw in order to shorten their ever growing teeth. There were several tanks in the back. One or two of said tanks held snakes or spiders. His eye caught the turtle tank. There was a single turtle in there, clearly an adult, and four eggs lay nestled close to it, slightly buried. A mother and her little clutch of children. One of the eggs seemed to be quivering slightly. "That's a wood turtle. They're common around this area, so there's no issue of having them as pets." The redhead informed him as he watched the egg twitch. The other three eggs had started following suit, one after the other. He walked closer to watch, awed at the spectacle. The egg that had been quivering first showed several cracks, and the tiny head of the baby poked out, making barely audible chirping noises. The egg adjacent to it followed moments after, the cries of the hatchlings combining into a quiet melody of wonder. Several minutes later, the third turtle broke out of the egg and joined the tiny chorus. The last egg quivered a little more then stopped, as if taking a rest. After several slightly tense moments, the egg shook harder than before and the final turtle burst out, joining its siblings in the song they sang out of joy for being in the world at last. Warmth filled his heart at the sight of new lives entering the world. A grin, unbidden, graced Hamato Yoshi's face as the youngest turtle seemed to smile as it crawled around the tank. "You're lucky, sir." the redhead commented, catching Hamato by surprise. "The other customers have been coming all day to see the eggs hatch."

Hamato didn't respond as the second-hatched turtle began to head-butt its older brother meekly. Hamato merely reached in and gently lifted the offender away and on the other side of the tank, next to the third-hatched. The second-hatched chirped in surprise and promptly attempted to bite Hamato. The third-hatched pushed its sibling's head away from Hamato's finger. Not knowing what possessed him, he asked a question that he had no clue of knowing that it would change his life forever. "Can I get them?" he asked, turning to the redhead as the newborn's antics continued. "No, they're just there for show." she retorted sarcastically. "Which ones do you want?" she asked, more seriously this time. Hamato looked back at the turtles, trying to decide which one of the four to get, subconsciously biting his lip as he did so. "Could I take all of them?" he continued after several minutes of debate. "Sure. Just don't come crying to me when they turn out to be too much." She answered, joking once more at the end of her statement. She brought over a shallow, flat-bottomed fishbowl of sorts, the bottom already layered with sterilized dirt made for certain pet environments. One by one, he lifted each turtle and gently lowered it into the fishbowl. "All male; well, what do you know?" she commented, raising an eyebrow. "How can you tell the difference between the two genders?" Hamato asked out of curiosity. "Well, see how their plastrons are domed inwards? That's called conclave, and most male turtles have that as a distinguishing feature between genders." She explained, picking up the smallest one and flipping it— _him_— over to trace the plastron in a means to show the Japanese man what she meant. Hamato grunted his understanding as the woman gently placed the turtle back in the fishbowl, forgetting to flip him back over onto his stomach. The turtle didn't seem to mind as it rocked on its back, chirping joyfully and seeming to be thoroughly enjoying it, the pseudo-smile still present on his face. He went up to the counter and made the transaction with the cashier, also planning to buy lettuce for them before he got home.

As he walked down the street, a man in a suit roughly bumped into him, almost knocking the turtles out of his hands. He turned to protest, but noticed details about the man that seemed… rather off. The man had too expressionless of a face, and most people that wear suits were mainly office workers, and they would all be at work around this time, meaning it was far too late for the man to be a commuter. Without going over the decision, he followed the immaculate man until the man turned down an alley. Using the ninjitsu he'd learned since he was a teenager, he hid around the corner. There was another man that looked exactly like the first, only this one was carrying a glowing blue-green substance. Hamato tried to shuffle forward to hear what the men were saying in their monotone voices, but froze as he heard a loud, almost ear-splitting _SKEEE!_ He looked down, lifting his foot, only to find a rat run out from under his foot. The men had obviously heard the rat and had turned to the source: _him_.

"Go no further." The man demanded. "This place is a place where you are not allowed to be in this place." The other man continued in the exact same voice. Something _very_ wrong was going on here, especially with that ooze. "We have been seen in this place by you," Another man carried on as he snuck up behind him with a fourth virtual clone. "So this is not the place that will be left by you." the final man finished their strange speech, and all four pounced in on him at once. Immediately, his ninja instincts kicked in and he dealt a knee-blow into the stomach of one of the men, causing him to double over and crumple. Another, he elbowed in the chest, then whacked in the face with the back of his hand. That one crumpled as well. He used a spinning back kick on a third one, but decided to only punch the final one in the face. The one holding the canister of ooze. The canister was thrown into the air in a narrow arc, and smashed on Hamato's back as he turned around in an attempt to shield the turtles from the strange substance. He gasped in shock as it seemed to burn into his skin, and he involuntarily dropped the fishbowl that the terrapins were in, causing the glass to smash and deposited the reptiles in ooze that had pooled on the ground at Hamato's feet. His vision blurred as he felt his body change shape and the furious fire of his transformation spread to encompass his whole body. After what felt like an eternity to him, he passed out as the pain of his transformation wore off. He only hoped he had hallucinated when he had seen the turtles transform in a manner similar to his.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TIMESKIP~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

When he awoke again, it was nighttime; he was met by four pairs of eyes with varying degrees of concern and curiosity, though he couldn't see who exactly the eyes belonged to that well. He blinked his eyes several times to clear his vision. What he saw had caused him to clumsily right himself into a sitting position and scramble backwards. The owners of the eyes were none other than the four turtles he had bought the previous day. They'd been mutated, and now resembled human infants… somewhat. Their beaks were still prominent on their chubby faces, but he suspected that they would grow out into normal, human-like mouths. He examined each turtle in turn, to discern which was which.

The first one he laid eyes on was clearly the youngest as he was the tiniest of the turtles. There was only childish innocence in those large, sky-blue eyes, and the dimples on his chubby, almost-lime green cheeks only stood out more with the slight, pearly grin on his face, showing off the little freckles adorning his cheekbones. All in all, this child was absolutely adorable in all senses of the word. The freckled turtle boy babbled a bit, then cocked his head, almost as if asking, _Is there something on my face?_

Hamato turned to the next one, whom he assumed was one of the older children. This one had untrusting emerald eyes and skin slightly darker than his younger brother's. A scowl sat on this one's face, and his lower lip was slightly exaggerated. On the left side of his plastron, his shell was chipped; Hamato winced inwardly at the sight, realizing the child had most likely acquired the chip from when he'd dropped them. It would stand to reason that at least one of the children wouldn't trust him very much at first.

The next child, he didn't know whether he was the second youngest or the eldest. This child had olive green skin and was slightly paler than the youngest. This child possessed a pair of deep mahogany eyes that seemed to let the world know he was smarter than they thought he was. His mouth was slightly agape, revealing the gap in his teeth. Either that was a missing tooth that would grow back in, or it was diastema, like Hamato had had when he was younger before he had gotten braces.

The last child was clearly the eldest, placing the prior child at second-youngest. This child had the darkest skin out of the four, and his eyes were narrower as well, reminiscent of the eye shape most Japanese people possessed. This child had blue eyes, much like the youngest; however, the eldest's eyes were more of a blue-gray than a clear sky-blue like the youngest had. This didn't mean that they were any less piercing. The eldest child analyzed him skeptically, as if wondering what to make of him. Hamato supposed that he was imposing, no doubt about it.

He extended a hand to the eldest, but noticed something different about his hand; instead of the five fingers he was used to, he now had four long, slender, almost scaly fingers. The 'scalyness' of his skin continued up to his elbow, where actual _fur_ grew. He inspected the rest of his body, finding it covered with more fur that was mostly the same color as the gap-toothed child's eyes, other than the black accents and the white patch on his chest and belly. His other hand and both legs were in a similar state to the first he had found the one he'd extended to the children in: almost-scaly, pink skin that was furless up to his elbow/knee. He now had a tail that was bare of any fur as well, traditional of any rat. Then, it hit home. He was a _rat._ He would've panicked if it weren't for the children in front of him. How had he _not_ noticed this until now?! He supposed that he had been too focused on the children to notice the state he was in.

He made a move to get up, but the freckled child wailed loudly and clung to Hamato's leg. The intelligent one quickly followed suit with his other leg, clutching tightly with a strength most adults thought children weren't capable of possessing. Hamato grumbled a little, settling back on his haunches, keeping his eyes on the four children that had clearly chosen him to see as their father figure for whatever reason their young minds had concocted. The gap-toothed child had let go, but the freckled one had begun to nuzzle Hamato's leg with his cheek, making high-pitched keening noises that made the now-rat's ears twitch. Hamato tentatively patted the child's head and was surprised by how smooth and warm freckle-face's skin was against his mammalian hand. The whining stopped, and the youngest of the four looked up at Yoshi with his huge, blue eyes. That single look melted Yoshi's heart and made the final decision he had been wavering on.

He would care for these children as if they were his own and teach them what he could of the outside world. He would become the father that they needed, as he had been unwittingly been given a second chance at having a family. He wouldn't mess up this time, either.


	2. The Fearless Lion

**AN: CCA here! I'm really proud of how quickly people responded to Chapter 1! It really warms my heart to find that people like my works! Also, a shout out to the 183+ people that have ventured to all of my stories and to the 156+ that read them through! You guys are absolutely awesome! Thank you all for making me feel special! No reviews yet, but that doesn't bother me any. I'm writing this when it's rainy, which sets the perfect mood for the character I'm writing. :3 Enjoy the story, everybody, and have a turtlely fab-oo-lus day! ^^**

**Also, I'm using this chapter as an introduction to the turtle language; I will explain it more on the bottom, as well as provide translations.**

**DISCLAIMER: Still a totally-NOT-short freshman girl. I haven't randomly turned into Nickelodeon… OR HAVE I?! LOL, jknr.**

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The Fearless Lion

His name was Lee. That was the name his mother crooned to him inside his egg. There were three others. Doux. Rae. Milos. He had yet to meet the others; this egg was all he knew in the world, but he longed to break free. His mother had said that _they_ would give them other names after they hatched. He didn't know who _they_ were, and he had asked in a way. She had responded, _the humans._ The humans. The humans. Lee didn't know what a human was. Milos seemed to be a little excited to meet these human creatures. When his mother wasn't crooning to them or telling them of humans, he was dreaming. Dreaming of colorful lights flying by and three presences by his side as they flew over their world and its inhabitants, their gods and their saviors. The colors he always saw were constant. Blue. Red. Purple. Orange. He didn't know the names of the colors in the human language, but he knew their names were those colors as well. All turtles were named for colors other than his father, Slash. He had been named after a human word, the first one Slash's mother had learned.

Lee woke up from another flying dream. Something was different. He wanted _out._ No more waiting. He's been cramped in his egg for far too long. So he kicked. He banged his head against the shell, kicked and flailed to the best of his ability. He felt the shell by his head give way a little and he cried out in relief. The air outside smelled so fresh! He eagerly managed to burst the rest of the way out of the egg, chirping the whole while. _Look, Mother! Lee made it out!_ There were three other eggs that were in the process of hatching as well. Another little turtle like Lee popped out of the egg that had been next to his, announcing _Rae is out! Mother, do you see Rae?_ After several moments, the third egg had hatched, and the role call continued. _Doux is no longer in the egg! Doux made Mother proud!_ It took longer for the final egg to hatch, but when it did, the final turtle meekly joined the band. _Milos is here! Are brothers out too?_ Milos didn't seem to want to please his mother, unlike his brothers. He wanted to make sure his brothers were out before trying to please his mother.

Lee scrambled around; unaware that one of the humans he'd heard so much about was watching them, almost as if in a trance. It wasn't until Rae rammed into him that he found out about the human. A giant, godlike hand reached down and gently grabbed Rae, moving him away from Lee and placing him next to Doux. Lee heard garbled noises that were impossibly loud, and looked to the source. What he saw matched his mother's description to a tee. They really DID come in all shapes and sizes! One smelled male, and had _orushi_ hair, his eyes a dark _brunid._ The human had narrow eyes and thick eyebrows. His face was square and his skin looked a mix of _apri _and _fallus_ in shade. The shirt he wore was crisp and clean, an almost blinding shade of _frosir_.

A female-scent human stood tall next to the male-scent. She had hair that seemed a mix of _rae_ and _milos_, and her eyes were a bright, pale shade of _lee._ She wore _frosir_ as well. Her face was rounder than the male-scent, and her skin had no trace of the _fallus_ shading. Her skin had a more _peack-_ish look to it than anything, and there were darker dots under her eyes. The shirt she wore under her apron was _doux_ and her pants were an odd shade of _terrpi_. The male-scent suddenly reached in and grabbed Lee, making him feel as if he were flying like in his egg-dream. But he was not a god; the human was in this moment. He was placed in a smaller container and the human went to grab the others. After Milos had been put in, the female-scent picked him back up and tickled him on his underside, babbling in her language the whole while. Milos was put back and they began to move. After several minutes, there was some jostling suddenly, and the human righted them.

The human began to move in the other direction, and a strange sinking feeling settled into Lee's stomach. Something bad was about to happen. Their human was following another human, one that was strange, even by human terms. They're mother had said that human would always show what they are feeling, but this human had no feelings at all. The expressionless human turned, and the carrying human followed, but hid around a corner. Lee couldn't hear what the strange human was saying to the one that looked exactly like the first strange human. A loud noise came when the human holding the four tried to move closer, and the strange no-scent humans stalked towards them. Lee and his brothers pulled into their shells as the strange humans attacked the human protecting them. Soon all but were down, and the strange water the not-feeling man was holding had an ominous glow. The glowing water was in the air, and the carrying human turned quickly and the canister with the 'water' in it hit his back, making the remaining conscious human drop them and he pretty much crumpled on the ground. Whatever the Lee and his brothers were in broke on the ground, scattering the four in the dribbled not-water, and even more of it fell on them. Lee felt as if he was being stretched out of his own skin, and his breathing hitched at the painful burning sensation spreading through his body. He was changing far too fast for him to handle and he blacked out, seeing the colors once more before his world fell on its head.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TIMESKIP~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Lee woke with a pounding head and was lying on his shell; he tried to sit up, but hissed as something so strangely instinctual sent echoes of pain resound through his body. At this failure, he chose to instead open his eyes, and accomplished his tiny task. The world was dark, like in his flying dreams and while he had been in the egg. Lee began to panic. He didn't want to be an egg again! He forced himself to sit up despite his pain and looked around. Lee saw that this place had way too many hard corners to be an egg, and he sighed in relief. Then he noticed the others in the alley with him; three strange turtles— his brothers, Lee realized— and a strange animal with a human male-scent. This had been the human defending them.

He stood on his hind legs and toddled clumsily to his nearest brother, Milos. He had changed too, and was just waking up as well. Milos now had strange eyes the same color as the _rae-_headed female-scent human, and had dark spots under his eyes— _freckles,_ his brain supplied— like the human from earlier. Milos _mrrk_ed in fear and clung to Lee. _We need to wake brothers _Lee relayed to Milos, and confused himself with his syntax. Milos obligingly let go, and Lee examined his brother's front claws. Three-toed, but spread out, and one claw to the side was shorter than the other too, and the whole of Milos' claw was very chubby. _Hands_. Lee's own… hands were the same in structure, down to the chubbiness, although his own _hand_ was a darker shade of _terrpi_ than that of Milos'. Lee helped Milos onto his hind legs and both stumbled over to Doux. His eyes were a shade of _brunid _that looked almost _rae_, and his skin was paler than Milos'. Doux's mouth was closed, and Lee forced the beak to peel back slightly to reveal square-shaped pieces of _frosir_, only a gap broke the synonymy. Lee looked at Milos in confusion, and Milos peeled back his own overly flexible beak to reveal that he had his own set of square _frosir_. Doux grunted in dissent, and forced Lee's hand away from his mouth.

_They're called teeth_ Doux informed in a scolding tone as he scowled at his brother's tactlessness. They all ventured to where was waiting, sitting up and pouting with his front legs crossed in front of his plastron. On the left side, near the edge, a small piece was missing out of the shell. Milos summoned up the courage to poke the chip in the shell, but Rae slapped Milos' hand away. _That's where I landed when the human dropped me._ Rae explained bitterly, glaring at the creature that had been a human. _Let's wake him up_ Lee suggested, and Milos was the one to drag Rae along when he refused to stand. They all sat in a line in front of the furry creature and waited for him to wake up. The former-human's eyes fluttered open slowly to find them staring at him. He blinked a few more times, then shouted and scrambled away from them, Rae smirking at the reaction. The once-human stared at them with wide eyes. His eyes were a shade of _rae_ that had flecks of _brunid _in them; he almost immediately locked eyes with Milos and looked the small turtle over. After the staring extended to two minutes, Milos tilted his head and asked, _Are you Father?_

His mouth was upturned slightly at the corners as his gaze switched to Rae, who glared at the taller being. After examining Rae, the analytical gaze turned to Doux, who only stared back in awe. Once Doux's analysis was over, the _rae_ eyes turned to Lee, who stared back just as critically. After several awkward moments of staring, the creature sighed and made to leave. Milos, seeing this, shrieked, _Please don't leave, Daddy!_ and latched onto one of the not-human-but-still-human's legs and Doux glued himself to the other. The _brunidfur _sighed and settled back onto his haunches. Doux, seeing that the _brunidfur_ wasn't leaving, let go of his leg. Milos, not getting the message, began to nuzzle the male-scent with low croons of, _We need Daddy, Daddy can't leave, he keeps us safe._

Looking at all of them once more, the light of realization came into his eyes. Lee realized something as well: although this creature hadn't created their eggs, he still had protected them. He still cared for them. He was still their father.

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**lee= blue**

**milos= orange**

**rae= red**

**doux= purple**

**terrpi= green**

**brunid= brown**

**apri= peach**

**peack= pink**

**fallus= yellow**

**frosir=white**


	3. The Sharpest Mind

**AN: CCA here! Wassup, FF dot NET! How is your day? I am juss fahn, thank youz for askin! ^^ I'm in an accenting mood. Sue me if you want. Leo was last chapter, so this chapter you have to guess who it is! This chapter will be easier because it's from the point of view of a fellow intellectual. AND I explained why Donne absolutely HATED it whenever Leatherhead or anyone else would hit or grab him by the face. I was listening to the remix of "He grabbed me BY THE FACE!" by Metalhead Inventor on YouTube, so :/ yeah, a lot of anger at the face-grabbing/ touching. Take note, Donnie fans, do NOT touch the FACE! XD Remember to read and review because I love it when I get those!**

**Shout outs go to aliengirl13, miceaholic, and Rachel Erica for being the first reviewers! You three are FABOOLIS! And yes, aliengirl. My brain exploded at the fact that ****_I_**** wrote all that cuteness!**

**DISCLAIMER: Do I look like a bunch of orange letters spelling NICKELODEON to you? Nope. I'm a blondie freshmore that is taller than you all. XD**

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The Sharpest Mind

He was Doux. At least, that's who he thought he was. That was the name that was crooned loudest. There were other names, other colors. He's heard Lee and Rae and Milos. Their father had a human word for a name, though. Doux didn't know what a Slash was, but he digressed. He finds that he thinks a lot. Too much for a turtle, he found. He thinks of he might be a human in a turtle's body, but that's still thinking. He can't stop, and there are so many thoughts that go by at once; his mind is almost never quiet. Doux dreamt sometimes, of clanking and clanging and he welcomed it with an open mouth. He was pretty sure the expression went that way.

Doux shifted in the egg, causing it to quiver. Were those his brothers chirping? He didn't want to be out last! He managed to calculate the exact spot he would need to hit to be out almost immediately, and hit it with his head. One more blow was dealt to the spot to make the gap large enough to crawl out through, calling out his name as he exited his egg. Compared to the egg, the outer world was relatively cool. The first thing he spotted outside their containment was a cage full of furry creatures with furless tails. Looking at the human letters, Doux somehow managed to translate 'rats' to the turtle term, _mangeous_. The _mangei_ scurried around their cage as Doux watched them.

The young turtle was brought out of his thoughts when another turtle, Doux thought it was Rae, was placed next to him. The other turtle was just as surprised as Doux. _Human does not touch Rae!_ Rae— apparently— shouted at the human as he tried to bite the larger creature. Tried, if it weren't for the fact that Doux stopped him. _Rae needs classes on how to deal with anger_ Doux muttered to himself, not sure on what a class was. As Doux worked a stubborn Rae away from the human Lee was staring at, Milos waddled by and ran into the glass wall of the… _thing_ they were in. _Milos doesn't like this place anymore_ the younger turtle whined, almost making Doux do the turtle equivalent of a laugh.

Suddenly, Lee was picked up by a human hand and placed in a smaller containment unit outside of their current one. _Be careful what you wish for, Milos_ Rae scolded the younger, and Milos gave Rae a guilty almost-grin. Doux was picked up as well, and he guessed that he would have thought he was flying if he didn't know better. He was put down next to Lee and the hand went back for Rae. When Milos was put in, another human hand reached in and grabbed him gently. This hand bore a female-scent, and Doux supposed it made sense. The female tickled Milos a little on the underside, babbling in her human language, and put Milos back. Doux couldn't help but stare at the human, his mind blank for once. There was only one word that could describe her, and that was a human word. _Beautiful…_

They began to move, and Doux was separated from an immediate line on sight from the human. She stayed in his mind until the human carrying them almost dropped them. Doux's thoughts raced again, and he was disappointed at this turn of events. Besides, who knew his brothers' reactions to his liking a human. After all, Rae and Milos just _wouldn't stop __**arguing!**_ They stopped moving eventually. Doux wanted to know what was going on. Even Rae and Milos, who had argued the whole way here, were silent. There was the garble of human speech down the alley, but it was too far away for Doux to decipher their meanings in the turtle language. A loud cry of pain from a wild _mangeous_ came from below and the humans turned toward them and the human carrying them. The way they spoke prevented Doux from translating their speech. Their syntax was strange, even for humans to turtles.

Two other strange humans came up behind them and after all four stopped speaking, they all attacked their human at once. The human carrying them held his own until a strange container filled with glowing ooze smashed against the differing human's back when he'd turned in an attempt to protect them. The male had gasped in pain and dropped the container that had them in it, and it smashed against the ground, scattering the four of them. Doux had ended up on his back as the human crumpled onto his knees, spilling some of the ooze all over the turtle's head and belly. Immediately, it felt as if fire consumed him, and Doux saw why the human had dropped them. It was some sort of… mutagenous fluid capable of combining genetic signatures. Now if only he could figure out where he learned to speak human…

The world went black as he tried to figure out how he'd learned those words.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TIMESKIP~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

When Doux woke up, it was to see Milos and Lee in front of him. Both bore blue yes, although Milos' eyes resembled those of woman from earlier. Now he was confused. What was a blue? His mind automatically translated the color in his head. _Blue_ was _lee._ **(AN: Heheh, Bruce Lee)** Lee suddenly grabbed Doux's mouth and wrenched his lips apart, seeming confused at his teeth. Lee looked at Milos, who bore his own teeth at his older brother, and Doux decided that he didn't like people grabbing him by the face. He wrestled his mouth out of Lee's hands, and explained _They're called teeth_ with a glare to Lee_._ Milos and Lee helped him up, and they all toddled over to Rae, who was already sitting up and pouting with his arms crossed over his plastron. It was a little hard to miss the chip in his plastron on the left side, and Doux knew that the missing piece would only get more apparent as they got over. Milos tried to poke the missing piece of shell out of concern, but his hand was slapped away. _That's where I landed when the human dropped me _Rae bitterly supplied them. Lee suggested that they wake up the rat, which was lying not far from where Rae was. Poor Milos had to be the one to drag Rae when the overly stubborn turtle had refused to help him up. Doux was only as tall as Milos, he soon found, and soon became nervous for when the former human woke up. What if he grabbed him by the face? What if he shook him around like a ragdoll?! Doux didn't know what a ragdoll was, but seemed to be a good analogy. When the rat woke up, his expression was dazed, as if his vision went blurry. He blinked several times and scrambled away from the four once Doux supposed the man's vision had cleared. Doux bit back his fear, and examined the _mangeous_ as he examined each of them in turn.

He would be much taller than them if he was standing up. His fur was the deep brown of fertile soil, with black markings. There was a white spot on his chin that crested twice onto the side of his muzzle, and a larger one on his belly. Up to his elbows and knees was skin that looked almost scaly, and the bare tail was long and almost worm-like. There were white, slightly bushy eyebrows above red eyes that had an amber tinge to them and he had the beginnings of a goatee on the end of his muzzle, just below his lip. His ears were typical rat ears, dish-like and with the notch on the edge facing the back of his head, white tufts extending off of the tips.

The giant rat reached a hand to Lee, but seemed surprised to see his own hand. The furry creature looked himself over and seemed to be almost fighting off panicked. Once he calmed down, he sighed and made a move to get up or leave. Milos cried out _Please don't leave, Daddy!_ as he latched onto one of the rat-man's legs. Fearing that the comparative giant would grab or attack Milos in the face, Doux attacked his other leg, setting him off balance, and the furry sat down hard on his tail. Doux let go, his job in protecting his brother done only to find that Milos was still glued to the dry-skinned leg, whimpering and keening out self-reassurances of_ We need Daddy, Daddy can't leave, he keeps us safe_.

Doux nearly tackled the creature again when the larger being reached his four-fingered hand down, but relaxed when he only patted Milos' head as a way to comfort him. He shared a look with Rae, as Lee seemed transfixed with the human. _I still don't trust him_ Rae growled, and Doux agreed with that a little.

This creature had once been a human, and he had heard their mother croon to them— mainly Lee and Milos— about humans, how they gave them other-names and destroyed whatever they touched. But if this human (even if he wasn't human anymore) and the pretty human in their birthplace were this kind, maybe not all humans were that bad. He'd have to share that theory with Rae.

Now if only he knew what a theory was.


	4. The Fiercest Fire

**AN: Hey there, FFdotNet! I'm listening to hard rock stuff for this chapter, for the character. :3 And I kinda like how I even gave an origin for both Donnie's crush on April, AND how much he hates having his face touched. And that last one is Leo's fault. :3 Also, for some reason, I'm already thinking up a 'sequel' of sorts where the turtles meet their mom. ****K****Remember that ALL reviews are looked at, read, and appreciated greatly, and that I sit in my own stink to write this stuff for you… seriously, I am as I type this because I haven't taken a shower yet. :/**

**Kudos to miceaholic for reviewing again! And Donnie ****_is_**** adorable when he confuses himself! όωὸ**

**Rachel: Lee/Leo knows the god-like thing because of his dreams. Doux/Donnie, being the genius AND having mutagen splashed on his head means that he has hyperintelligence. I don't care if hyperintelligence isn't a word, I'm making it one, and the hyperintelligence allows his brain to make the translations faster. That and their mom told them. Their mom has the experience about things, and they made assumptions based on what they were told. Correct assumptions, but still assumptions. Also, Lee/Leo and Doux/Donnie are a little more perceptive about their environment than Rae/Raph and Milos/Mikey are. I'll fix it with Rae/Raph and Milos/Mikey by making them unsure about colors, mostly Milos/Mikey because he isn't afraid to admit that he's wrong.**

**Aliengirl13: Thank you for your affection! And the turtle words all are based off of human words, like fallus= fallow and frosir=frost. :3 And to be honest… I have no clue where this stuff comes from, other than my brain. A sequel of sorts, as I've mentioned, is already in the works. :3**

**Mistystar123: Thanks for the feedback! ^^ And it IS adorable! TT FTW!**

**Neoshewolf: Thanks, I tried to get in as many origin stories as possible without having too many. ^^**

**Guest: Thank you for liking it so much that you confused yourself! It's fun to confuse others, but not so much yourself. And there is the distinct possibility that this IS canon, and it was that wanting to know that allowed me to create this. And you're welcome! :3**

**HOLY CHAOS! 347+ views and 139+ visitors? You all flatter me, you really do! Each and every one of you is absolutely FABOOLIS! *hugs all viewers and visitors* You made my day! Also, many thanks to my 4 favers and 3 followers! Sometimes it's nice to know your story's being stalked. XD Again, you are all turtley faboolis!**

**DISCLAIMER: Still not a famous cartoon-making company. Only the tallest fifteen-year-old on the planet THAT DOESN'T HAVE A SHORT PERSON COMPLEX! NOPE, NOT AT ALL. XD**

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The Fiercest Flame

His mother called him Rae. He was his mother's favorite, and he knew that for a fact. He had brothers, of course, and they were all colors like him. Lee and Milos were a couple of weirdoes, always asking their mother to tell them of humans and how they killed everything around them. Then there Doux, who was a probably human in a past life. After all, why else would the _brigis_ **(AN: nerd)** think so much? Rae had always wanted their mother to tell them of his father, but all she knew was that his name was Slash and that he was filled with hate towards humans. Rae has always wanted to meet his father. He thought that they would get along great. Lee talked about his dreams all the time, and how there were colors and lights. Rae talked about how crazy Lee was. A lot of the time, Rae slept. He had dreams, but he never remembered them. He had nothing special going on in his head like his brothers, and this angered him.

It was when he heard Lee announcing that he had escaped the egg did he decide he was fed up with being stuck in there, so he assaulted his shell. He kicked it, he head-butted it, he even went as far as to bite at the shell until he tumbled out into the egg in front of Lee. Doux came right after, and Rae stopped paying attention to them. He gave a small glare at what he thought were the humans watching them and began to beat Lee with his head in an attempt o challenge him for dominance. Lee probably would have responded if _one of those darned humans hadn't __**PICKED HIM UP! **_The human put him next to his _brigis_ brother, and after getting over the shock that a _human_ touched **_him_**, he made an attempt at the life of the human's claw, yelling_ Human does not touch Rae!_ but Doux stopped him. He heard his younger brother grumble something about anger and managing, but Rae ignored it. Instead, he focused on Milos, who ambled by. Rae almost-smirked when Milos ran head first into the side of whatever they were in. _Milos doesn't like this place anymore _said turtle whined quietly.

Lee was grabbed gently by a human claw and was put inside another, smaller thingy-they-were-being-held-in. _Be careful what you wish for, Milos _retorted Rae, and Doux was picked up next. Milos gave a weird almost-smile that seemed to almost apologize. Milos was put in the thing as well, and Rae was next. Unlike his brothers, Rae squirmed and tried to fight his way out of the strong grip on him. He was put in whatever it was as well, and the humans babbled at each other. Rae tried once more to nip at a talon that grabbed Milos. Looking up, he saw that the human was tracing the center of Milos' shell, probably telling the other human where the tenderest meat was on a turtle, and Rae growled at the humans. They only ever wanted to destroy everything, and they could if they wanted to so long as they left his brothers alone. No human was going to eat Milos or Lee or Doux, no matter how annoying they are. Milos was gently laid back on the _brunid_ stuff they were on, but he was on his back. _Rae, Milos flew!_ The little turtle chirped excitedly to him, and Rae just gave his younger brother a blank stare. His brothers are weird.

The human was taking them somewhere. Who knows where; but still, another place that wasn't here. Rae hazarded a glance at the sky. It was so _big,_ so… was the color _lee?_ He didn't know, but he guessed Milos and Lee did. They knew _everything_ relating to humans. The human almost them, and Rae hissed at him _How __**dares**__ human drop us?!_

The human stared at something, then began to follow whatever it was staring at. Rae didn't care if the human was a male or a female, only that it was human. Rae looked in the direction of where they were going, and saw that they were following another human. _Of course_ Rae huffed, and Milos gave him a confused look. Eventually, they stopped and Rae began to fume. This _human_ did not tell them what to do! He sat and refused to move. There were two other humans down that way. He could hear them and— no, they didn't _have_ scents. This confused him and he wanted to know why the humans didn't have scents. A loud noise came from below them, and Rae relished in the fear-scent coming from the human carrying them.

Two more humans came up behind them, and the human carrying the turtles sprung into action, taking all of them out. A thingy that had something in it— was it some sort of human egg?— broke against the clearly-dominant human's back. The human dropped them and whatever they were in broke, scattering the four of them. Raph felt the front of his shell go numb as it banged against the ground, bouncing and landing hard on his belly. Glowing stuff fell off the human's back and onto Rae and his brothers, and he felt pain_. So much pain._ His brothers looked like they were in pain too, but he couldn't tell. His eyes were blurring, and he just wanted to fall asleep to make the pain go away. He wanted to, but he couldn't because that human was screaming too loud for him to even try. He did manage to get to sleep, however, when the pain started to fade away. And to him, it was bliss.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TIMESKIP~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Rae woke up groggy. His head was full of fluff, and his shell was numb. Why was his shell numb? Then he remembered: the human had dropped him and he had landed on the edge of his shell. Hate filled Rae. How **dare** the human drop him! He forced himself to sit up and tried to stand up on his hind legs, only to fall back down. At his failure, he folded his front legs in front of his underside and stuck out his lower lip, glaring at everything he laid eyes on. The ground. His brothers. A random shelled creature scurrying by. The creature confused him, so he stared at it. It turned to him, twitching little legs all over its face. Rae squeaked and slapped it away. That was _not_ a turtle. He hoped.

His brothers had begun to wake up, so he crossed his forelegs again and stuck out his lip again, faking anger once more. He looked over to see two of his brothers _standing_ without any visible difficulty. Rae didn't need to fake being mad anymore. One of his brothers was looking into another's mouth, the third standing by and seeming worried about something. The one standing by had strange dots all over the top of his beak, a little bit under his eyes for the most part. The one with his mouth being opened forcefully, he could tell, had a sort of gap in those white things in his mouth. The last one had nothing special about him other than his squinty eyes, like the human that had dropped him. Rae growled quietly. How _dare_ his _brother_ of all beings resemble a _human_!

His brother with the mouth-gap slapped away human-eyes and glared at him, telling him off for it. Dot-face looked over at him, and pointed at him to his brothers, who were trying to get gap-face onto his feet. So THAT'S how they did it. They helped each other. All three managed to walk over to him—entirely on their hind legs. Even more anger filled him. Spotty, maybe it was Milos, tried to poke at the missing piece of his plastron, but Rae slapped away his front claw. _That's where I landed when the human dropped me _he scowled, glaring over once again at the furry creature laying close by. Squinty, probably Lee, suggested that they go wake him up. Rae suspected that it was to help the thing with a human scent, so he refused. He still came along anyways when might-be-Milos had to drag him over. _Let's walk! PLEASE Rae?_ the dot-faced turtle whined the whole way, Rae being as stubborn as ever. They worked their way towards the fluff-thing, and they sat in a row. Dot, him, Hole-mouth, and Squinty. He was the only normal one here.

When the fuzz-creature woke up, it seemed like he couldn't see too well. It blinked a few times, then scrambled away from them. Rae smirked; it **better** fear them. It stared at each of them, taking them in. It was almost as if it hadn't seen a turtle before. Then again, they _had_ been changed. In what ways, he didn't know. His front claws were weird, and it had become more natural for him to walk on his hind legs— his brothers, at least. The thing had switched its gaze to him, and he glared at it as its eyes darted over him as a whole, taking in his fierce eyes and missing piece of shell. It looked a little sad when it saw his missing piece of shell, and Rae bristled. It had **caused** his shell to be broken! It moved on to Holey, who was probably Doux, and Rae looked around and spotted the creature with legs on its face again. It had crawled toward maybe-Milos and he looked mesmerized by it. It crawled onto his claw, and maybe-Milos shoved the thing into his face. It almost climbed into Rae's open mouth, which had been agape at the prospect that Milos would allow something so ugly to touch him, and Rae almost shrieked again, spitting it out and backing away some. Milos looked sad at it, but leaped into action when the fluffy thing made to leave— literally. _Please don't leave, Daddy!_ the little turtle cried, and Rae scoffed. That no-brain seriously thought that this _thing_ that had been a _human_ was their _father_? Doux grabbed the creature's other leg, forcing it to sit back down with a drawn out huff. Maybe-Doux let go, but Milos still hung on tight, whining and keening_ We need Daddy, Daddy can't leave, he keeps us safe_. Maybe-Lee was staring the thing, so Rae shared a look with Doux. _I still don't trust him _Rae whispered to him, and nodded his head a little, probably thinking again.

Rae thought that he hated humans, but this thing used to be human, and it wasn't _that_ bad. After all, it could have eaten them, but it didn't. He was still angry, though.


	5. The Kindest Heart

**AN: WASSAP, FFdotNet! Everyone who has read up to this point, there is only one word to describe you: no, not faboolis. You are all totally BOOYAKASHA! Each and every one of you is completely way past cool, and I love each and every one of you for reading this story almost all the way through! I will admit, Mikey/Milos is my favorite turtle. Not only is he flat-out adorable, but I think that he's actually a helluva lot smarter than he lets on, meaning that he only pretends to be stupid to make his brothers feel better about themselves. That and he hangs out with Donnie a lot. Kind a like with Sonic and Tails… *le gasp* MIKEY(free spirit, wild, extremely compassionate, 'not that bright') + LEO(cocky, showboating, sword fighting, leader)= SONIC! :D Also, Raph(hothead with a soft spot for some people)= Knuckles and Donnie(snarky techie with an obvious crush on a girl that's technically from another world)= Tails(from my AU that hasn't been established/published yet)**

**We get a LOT of unsureness in this chapter and that's because we're on Milos/Mikey's chapter, as I've stated before. Mikey is more likely to admit when he doesn't know something and when he's not sure about something. Enjoy the adorableness that is Michel the Angel: Michelangelo.**

**Review Answer time!**

**Mistystar123: Yes, Only Raph/Rae would get angry THAT easily.**

**Miceaholic: I agree, Milos/Mikey is the awesomest and most adorable out of all the turtles. That and the secret smarts thing I mentioned above. :3 I also think that Mikey might be an empathetic when knowing exactly what to do to cheer his brothers up. That and the fact that he was the only one 'insane' enough to unchain Leatherhead and get to know him. Mikey might have actually been as dumb as he pretended to be at the beginning of the series, but he got smarter as the time wore on. Also, in ****_The Wrath of Tiger Claw,_**** Mikey mentions using the T-Phones and satellites to locate Casey. He even used the word 'triangulate'. :3**

**Guest: Yes, oh Raph. And MAYBE Spike/Slash is their daddy? *trollface* There WILL be a sequel, so don't worry. We MAY find out if he is. :3**

**OTHER Guest: Uhhh, did you forget the actual review?**

**So, I've decided to make a sequel for this story. All my other stories are being put on temporary hiatus until the end of the sequel.**

**Oh my Chaos. 724+ views and 372+ visitors? I LOVE YOU PEOPLE! Also, I just put up a poll for what story I'll write after the sequel to this. :3 Go vote, please! And don't forget to RnR first! ^^ **

**DISCLAIMER: I am only a giant that makes you all seem like the size of atoms in comparison, and in no way is my last name Eastman or Laird. Speaking of Eastman, has anybody noticed that's what's on one of Casey Jones' hockey sticks in the 2012 series?**

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The Kindest Heart

Was he Milos? He wasn't too sure. He was told that his name was also a color. There were others there too. Lee. Doux. Rae. They were his brothers. And there were the stories. There were stories of the sky, stories of oceans and mountains and humans. Humans ruled the world, no matter how big or small it was. He wanted to meet these humans, become their friends. Friends were people that liked each other and helped each other out, right? That's what his mother told him. Everything that he knew, his mother told him. He's even asked her name. She was a rarity in her generation. Her entire generation was named using human words, like their father Slash. Slash sounded scary. Milos' mother was originally going to be named Cloud, but her father had named her Sofinis. It was whatever a cloud was. His mother said that they were big puffs in the sky, where birds flew with both flapping and stiff wings. Milos wanted to see it. He wanted his brothers to see it too. Lee talked of his dreams, Doux talked of his thoughts, and Rae talked of meeting their father. What did he talk of? He wanted to talk of the sky, but only spoke when asking their mother of something. Lee dreamt of flying. Milos imagined watching him fly. Strange forms, leaping from _orushi_ to _orushi _**(AN: black to black, building to building)**, almost like what their mother had described humans to look like, yet not quite human. He thought they looked like turtles too. Not that he knew what a turtle looked like either. He liked to fancy the three forms as his brothers, and that he was admiring from afar. Who knew, maybe he really was.

It was when he found out his brothers were hatching. He wanted to meet them, get to know them, maybe even be their _friends_! Eagerly, he smashed against whatever he was in— was it an egg? Maybe. Halfway through, his struggles weren't working, so he stopped struggling and looked for the right place to attack, finding it, he scrabbled at it until it burst open, dumping him on something that he'd heard was soft. He liked soft. Outside his egg was so bright and full of colors, more than even his brother Lee might even know! He looked to see three other little turtles, calling out to their mother, and he called to them. One was looking at him, and his calls said he was Lee. The dreamer. Rae tried to begin a fight with Lee, and Milos whimpered, backing up and curling next to their mother. Rae. The warrior. His mother had said that humans that would fight were called soldiers or warriors, and Milos preferred warriors. A huge claw reached down and moved Rae through the air next to Doux. The thinker. Rae thought that there was something wrong with thinking, but Milos honestly saw nothing wrong with it. He thought about the sky and humans all the time. Rae must not think enough to like the good feelings it brings. His mother called it _hope_. It must have been a human that moved Rae, so Milos decided to walk over to Doux and Rae. Instead, he was distracted by a legless creature close by and decided to go talk to it. He was stopped by an invisible barrier that his mother had called _glass_. _Milos doesn't like this place anymore _he announced, and Doux almost laughed. Rae just rolled his eyes. Rae didn't like him.

Lee was picked up by the human, and Rae picked on Milos for his poor choice of words. Milos just gave Rae a guilty smile. Doux was next, then him. Rae was put in the smaller _glass_ thingy, but another human picked up Milos. The human was a female-scent, like his mother. Was this human a mother, too? She traced his underside, and a sensation went through him that almost made him laugh, so he squirmed a little. She put him back, but his underside was facing up. He didn't mind. He would see the sky better this way. They eventually **did** go outside, and it was everything his mother told him it would be. His mother had said that the sky was a color called _lee_, which was his brother. Funny, Lee didn't look _lee_. His brother didn't look like the sky. His mother had also that there were different versions of _lee,_ but they were still the same color. Milos decided to look for different shades of _lee_. That's when they were almost dropped, and Milos was tipped onto his belly. They began to move again, in the other direction. What was going on? They went somewhere dark, like it had been inside the egg. Milos was scared. What if they were going back into another, bigger egg?! The human with them tried to go deeper into the dark but stopped when there was a loud noise from under them.

There were other humans there, but they were scary. They didn't have scents and their voices were weird. No feeling at all. They tried to hurt the human that was holding them, but he fought them off. Were they fighting for dominance? Or was the human protecting them simply a warrior? What he did seemed like something else his mother had said humans did, called dancing. This is what he had imagined it to look like as well. One of the nothing-humans was carrying something in its hands. It had something inside it that made light. Was it a human egg? His mother said that humans didn't lay eggs, so that couldn't be it. It was flying at them, and the human turned to protect them from it, and he dropped them when it smashed against his back.

They hit the ground and were scattered when what they were in broke on the ground, and Milos was on his side in the stuff that was in the not-egg as it oozed around him and onto him as it fell of the protecting human's back. It made him hurt, and he didn't like hurting. His thoughts began to drift to the human. The human had the stuff on them. Was he hurting too? Concern filled Milos' mind as he passed out from his transformation.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TIMESKIP~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Milos woke up to a shriek. Opening his eyes, he saw that he was in darkness and began to whimper. Was he all alone? Were the others alright? The darkness lightened up a little and he saw forms around him. Three were lying on the ground, but the fourth was sitting upright. Another one of the forms opened their eyes and Milos saw what he thought was a darker version of the color _lee_ in those eyes. Why would eyes be that color? The skin was— was it _terrpi?— _and the form had a shell on its back. One of his brothers, Milos realized. The other turtle shook its head a little, the spotted him. It managed to get to its hind legs and clumsily stumble over to him. This turtle smelled like Lee. Heheh. Lee had _lee_ eyes. Milos squeaked in fear and clung to Lee, not wanting him to leave. _We need to wake brothers _Lee told him, and Milos grudgingly let go. Lee's voice was strange, throatier and the words had almost turned into human words at the end. Lee helped Milos up after taking in his new look. Lee, with a strange look on his face, began to look carefully at one of Milos' front claws. It looked more like what the human had used to pick them up, only with three extremely chubby talons instead of five long, thin ones.

Tugging his changed claw out of Lee's hand gently, they supported each other as they made their way to the next turtle, who smelled like Doux. Lee almost immediately forced open Doux's beak, causing the turtle to squawk. Holding his own claw side-to-side with Doux's, Milos was able to determine that Doux had lighter skin than him. Lee's was darker. Doux had eyes that Milos wanted to assume was _doux,_ simply because that was his name, but that didn't seem right because Doux's eyes looked like the dirt they were standing on in the _glass_ thing and dirt wasn't _doux_… that's what their mother had said. There were little lines of _stuff_ in Doux's mouth— one row on the top, one row on the bottom— that were the color of the _sofinis_ that he'd seen on the way to this place. His mother had said that the color was _frosir_. There was a hole between two of these pieces of _frosir_ on the top row. Milos traced the tongue along the sides of his mouth, finding hardness blocking the way to the inside of his cheek. He had the _frosir_ in his mouth too. Lee looked at him, confused, and Milos showed off his own _frosir_ proudly. Lee merely nodded, and Doux slapped away Lee's claws. _They're called teeth_ Doux informed his brothers scathingly, glaring at Lee. Doux had the strange voice changes too. Maybe when they got older, they would use only human words. Milos knew that he wouldn't mind all that much, but he knew that Rae wouldn't take too kindly to learning how to speak human.

Speaking of Rae, the two of them helped up Doux after Milos reminded them of him and they all worked together to reach him. He just sat there, pouting and missing some of his shell. Milos was saddened at the missing piece of shell, and pointed at it, but Rae slapped his claw away. _That's where I landed when the human dropped me _Rae frowned. Rae had the almost-human voice too. He was _not_ going to be happy when someone told him so. Milos looked over at the lump on the ground. So _that_ was a human? It looked a little… fuzzy to match his momma's description. Lee decided to try and wake the human up, but Rae refused to go, and Milos was left to drag Rae behind him. _Let's walk! PLEASE Rae?_ Milos begged his older brother over and over. Rae just seemed to get madder and madder. Milos's voice was turning human now too. They reached the human and Milos stopped yanking Rae after him in favor of sitting in front of the human like his brothers. He wanted to meet the human too! Milos deflated a little to find that the human hadn't woken up yet. Milos wanted to do whatever Rae had done when they walked up to him. Rae had walked on his claws and knees to sit next to him, almost as if guarding him. Milos liked Rae more because of this.

The human opened his eyes slowly and looked like he ran into something. He blinked several times, then cried out and scrambled away from them. Milos was sad. It was scared of them? Milos didn't like sad. Rae looked _happy_ that it was scared of them, but that was Rae. The human stared at him first, trying to decide what he was. Milos _thought_ he was a turtle, but now he wasn't so sure. _What am I?_ Milos asked, disguising his words to make it seem like he was asking the human if he was their father. He might be their father. The looking over moved on to Rae, who glared back with _terrpi_ eyes. Milos thought Rae's eyes were _terrpi_. The human looked at Doux next, who was trying hard to hide his fear as awe. It didn't work very well. Rae was looking at something, and Milos turned to see a tiny creature with a shell on its back. Milos let it crawl onto his claw, then tried to show it to Rae, who looked freaked out. It tried to get into Rae's mouth, but he spat it out and tried to get away from the thing. Milos was sad again. Why didn't Rae like Milos's new friend?

Milos noticed the human that had protected them trying to leave. Didn't daddies protect their kids? Maybe the human _was_ their daddy? _Please don't leave, Daddy! _Milos yelped, clutching onto the human's leg. Doux joined him soon after, only growling. After a little bit, Doux let go. Milos started to rub against the soft on the human's leg._ We need Daddy, Daddy can't leave, he keeps us safe_ Milos chanted, feeling something against his head. He looked up into the human's bright eyes and Milos liked how the human seemed to become happy when looking at him. The human looked like he had just come to a decision, and Milos had as well.

This creature would be their daddy. It didn't matter that he hadn't made their eggs. This human was still their daddy.

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**WOO! longest chapter yet!**


	6. Ashes to Ashes

**AN: Hey, FFdotNet! CCA here! I made a mistake last chapter. I didn't get that many views and favorites on just WfW, it was overall. Oh well, I'm fixing that now. 739+ views and 303+ visitors is what I ****_really_**** have. Now we're on to April's mom, Beatrice O'Neil. She's basically 2003 April in appearance. :3 **

**Is it just me, or does anybody else see Donnie as Yakko when listening to the ice cream song? Well, it would make sense as they both have Rob Paulsen as their voice actor…**

**I just want to thank each and every one of you for sticking through the whole story with me. To be honest, this is my first completed story! WOO, PARTY TIME! Digital pizzas for all of you!**

**Mikey: PIZZAAA!**

**Me: NO, Mikey! It's for everybody who rnr's the story!**

**Mikey: Awwwww! *pouts***

**Also, I messed up some of the sequencing with this chapter, but I'm afraid I'll mess up the chapter if I try to fix it. So, please don't spam me with, "But ****_that_**** came before ****_this!"_**** because I'm aware of that, and it REALLY bugs me that I messed up the sequencing like that. *facepalm* Sorry to any readers that gets irked by that because, believe me, I'd fix it if I knew that I wouldn't have to rewrite the whole chapter and I don't want to keep anybody waiting any longer than they should have to.**

**Review Answers:**

**Mistystar123: Yes, I did add Spike/Slash. :3 There is going to be a sequel, so keep an eye out for it!**

**Kuronique Misaki: Thank you! I try, really, and I really like how the story's turned out so far! ^^**

**Miceaholic: Yeah. I have absolutely no idea at all how I managed to make this story so adorable. And the fact they saw everything differently even though they were the same events is the magic of the literary element known as point of view. It's really fun to play and experiment with, and this story honestly was a sort of test for that. :3 Like I said, I am thrilled at the feedback this story has gotten and how supportive my readers are.**

**Rachel Erica: No, they aren't going to be tots in the sequel. In fact, it takes place right after the most recent episode (so far), ****_The Legend of the Kuro Kabuto. _****If there are episodes after that that contradict my theories, that makes the sequel (and this, essentially) an AU.**

**Guest: I know. Mikey is the adorablest of the turtles. I don't care if adorablest isn't a word, I'm making it one (like hyperintelligence :3) And The sequel will be in the works as you read this chapter, so toast. (sonictoast reference ftw X3) This is the last chapter, yes. This being the first time I've actually finished a story, it's both exhilarating and sad to actually change a story from ****_in progress_**** to ****_complete_****, and each complete story is a new experience and the start of a new adventure for every writer, not just me.**

**I have a special note for everybody at the end of the chapter for anybody that wants to read it. Oh, and I reached the 20 review mark! Thank you so much everybody!**

**DISCLAIMER: This being the last time I do this in this story, I will be serious about it. In no way, shape, or form am I claiming any right to having the copyrights to the TMNT series. The rights to this amazing series is owned by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Mirage Comics, Viacom, IDW Comics, Michel Bay, and Nickelodeon at the time being. As said in the first chapter, Bea is based off of my friend Hope personality-wise. In a way, I own Beatrice O'Neil in her origins and role in the story, but her physical appearance belongs to 4kids! TV as she is just the April from there with my friend's personality. The poem ****_Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust_**** belongs to Kev Elmer.**

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CCA~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Ashes to Ashes

Bea O'Neil was your average New Yorker. She worked in a pet shop on Myrtle Ave. in the city, and she had beautiful one-year-old daughter by the name of April. She was trying to work up enough money to go back to college and get a degree in Language Arts to become an author. She already had the first few chapters of a novel drafted on her computer at home. Her husband was a redhead like her, and Kirby — her husband — often reminded her on how much April resembled her, both in personality and in appearance. There were also those strange men who had tried to kidnap her and April last week. Bea frowned and stopped temporarily at bringing in supplies for the shop. They had called her and April 'The Ones.' Bea didn't know what that meant, but she knew to keep an eye out for them.

She blinked and noticed a man staring at the sign on the window of the pet store saying _TURTLES 4 SALE_; she saw him blink a little, as if coming back to his senses. He wasn't with those other men identical to each other. Bea picked up a sack of hamster bedding and decided to address the man. "Excuse me, sir. Would you like to look at our other animals? We don't have just turtles, you know." she informed him, and he turned his narrow, dark brown eyes to her. She walked into the shop and noted that he had followed her. He grimaced at the cage of rats, but the rats flocked to the wall of the cage to get a better look at him. Strange. That hasn't happened before. Bea couldn't help but get a sense of foreboding from the occurrence as she dropped off the hamster bedding. She left to grab another package of hamster bedding in time to see the last wood turtle hatch from its egg. The Asian-looking man stood there watching them, almost transfixed with them. She watched as he moved one turtle that had tried to attack another one. The youngest turtle ran into a wall soon after that and she chuckled. "You're lucky, sir." she revealed. He looked at her, and she decided to elaborate as well. "The other customers have been coming all day to see the eggs hatch."

The man didn't respond as he turned back to the hatchlings. "Can I get them?" he asked, turning once more to Bea. "No, they're just there for show." she snarked at him. "Which ones do you want?" she asked him, going into business mode. He turned once more to the newborns, biting his lip in deciding which one he wanted. She found this amusing as it reminded her of the children that their parents let them decide which pet they wanted. "Could I take all of them?" he inquired after several minutes, bringing her out of her thoughts. She nodded — not that he could see her do so — saying "Sure. Just don't come crying to me when they turn out to be too much." and grabbed a miniature water tank with sterile dirt inside of it for the turtles. She examined each turtle's plastron as the man placed them inside the dish. "All male; well, what do you know?" she noted aloud, raising an eyebrow. The man looked at her in confusion. "How can you tell the difference between the two genders?" he asked her. Bea, wanting to show off her turtle intel, gently hoisted one of the turtles — the youngest of them, oops — flipped him over, and began to trace along his plastron, causing him to squirm a little. "Well, see how their plastrons are domed inwards? That's called conclave, and most male turtles have that as a distinguishing feature between genders." she informed the man, and she gently rested the turtle back into the fishbowl — darn it, she forgot to flip him back over! The tiny turtle didn't seem to mind as it rocked with an almost-smile on its face. That was _so adorable! _She admittedly envied the man for getting such a sweetie pie.

Bea watched as the man paid for the turtles left and turned to walk to the left on the sidewalk. She walked to the exit to watch, just to see what would happen to him. Business was slow today, anyways. No harm in entertaining her curiosity. She managed to keep sight of the man as his shock of black hair weaved and bobbed in the crowd until he suddenly stopped. Bea saw why. One of _them_ had run into him and had almost made him drop the turtles. He seemed ready to protest, but she took note of his hesitation. He must have sensed the _wrongness_ emanating from the person that had run into him. Bea's eyes almost bugged out when the man with the turtles actually began to _follow_ the wrong man. Was he some sort of idiot?! She almost screamed at him in frustration as he passed by the shop once again, going in the direction he had been heading in before he had gone into the shop, still following the offending person. Bea's feeling of dread— which had persisted since it first began when the turtle-carrying man had looked at the rats—, suddenly grew to an almost sick feeling in her stomach, along with a strange spark of hope. Something terrible was going to happen to the kind turtle-man, but it would also bring a new purpose into his life somehow. And it had something to do with those turtles. She didn't know how she knew that. She just had a _feeling_ that that was going to become of him.

Bea shook her head and fully exited the shop, grabbing a bag of dog food and trying to put her intense instincts behind her. But her thoughts remained on the Asian man. His decision to follow somebody she wasn't even sure was human. The feeling that came with him and his discretions. She shook her head again and set back to work brining in supplies to restore their stock. She would worry about that when she got back home. Back to April and Kirby. Right now, she had a job to do. She was so focused on her work that she didn't hear the man scream in pain ten minutes after she discarded the train of thought.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TIMESKIP~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Bea walked home from work, exhausted. Her feet hurt from standing on them all day, and she couldn't wait to see her daughters' bright blue eyes shimmering from the grin adorning her freckled face. She kept walking onwards, even as the sun was beginning to set. As she walked, she couldn't help but think about the man she had met that day.

He was mysterious, an enigma. And for some reason, she doubted that she'd ever see him again. The thought sent an inexplicable chill through her nerves as her imagination began to run wild. Her mind's eye kept providing scenarios as to the reason for this feeling, each one worse than the last. Getting attacked by the Purple Dragons (a local gang), a drunk driver running him over. Her subconscious reminded her that he had been following the not-quite-a-man. Now she was seeing even worse images! The 'men' capturing and experimenting on him, ooze that they had had spilling on him. Him and the turtles he had bought. The strange-speaking men had called it mutagen and she could only guess what it could have done to that man or the turtles with him if that ooze _had_ been spilled on them.

She was shocked out of her trance of sorts with the voice she had come to dread more than anything else. It was _them_. "The one that is known as Bea O'Neil will be coming with the Kraang."

Kraang. At least now she had a name, whatever good it did her at this point in time. "The one that is known as Bea O'Neil is what is known as a mother to the one that is known to the Kraang as The One." the same voice — or maybe another one, they all literally sounded the same — sounded from behind her. She whirled, expecting an unnaturally immaculate man. Instead, life decided to slap her in the face by revealing the source of the voice to be a skeleton-like robot with a strange, green-eyed brain creature where the stomach would be. The robot itself had pink energy lines all over it, and magenta camera optics that glowed menacingly. It held a weapon, clearly a gun, but not any that she recognized. The _thing_, for lack of a better term, hissed at her from its spot in the robot's belly as it aimed at her. More of the robots, some looking like men, some like robots with a layer of ice around them, others looking like the first one, began to fill in around her. One thing they all had in common was the guns. They all had the same kind of gun, with the boxy design with magenta and pink squares glowing along the sides. That dread from earlier hit again full force and her knees buckled. There was no way out.

"The one that is known as Bea O'Neil will be giving the location of the one known as The One to the Kraang."

_No. Way. Out. Help._

"If the one known as Bea O'Neil are not to be giving the location of the one known as The One to the Kraang, the Kraang are to be eliminating the one known as Bea O'Neil from all places."

_Help. Not. Again._

The Kraang lowered their guns to be level with her head. Her mind had stopped and she couldn't form any coherent or helpful thoughts.

"Elimination in 3…"

_April…_

"2"

_My baby…_

"1"

_I'm so sorry…_

The searing heat of plasma burning into her skull from all sides was the last thing she felt as she met her end, her thoughts turning to ashes.

Ashes to ashes.

Dust to dust.

This was her end.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The End ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

_From ashes to ashes, from dust to dust.  
You'll rise again, in this I'll trust.  
You're in our hearts, 'till the end.  
We will meet again, depart my friend.  
You may be gone, but I know you're near.  
In my heart, I hold you dear.  
My only hope, in peace you'll rest.  
I still miss you, I bet you guessed.  
I'll see you soon, it's a must.  
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust._

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Post-Story AN~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

**This being my last author's note and chapter for the story, I've decided to put this at the end for anybody to read if they wished. You can skip over it if you want, but you know what they say; to each, their own.**

**Thank you to Rachel Erica, miceaholic, Kuronique Misaki, mistystar123, and everybody else that's read this story for sticking through with this story to the end. You are all wonderful people and I'm extremely grateful that you all took the time out of your lives to look at my story, and even more so to the people I've mentioned for taking even more time to review this story. Rachel, your tips on certain styles I could have tried were helpful and I will keep note of them for future stories. Everyone that decides to read this final author's note, you are wonderful. Here are some words of wisdom to keep in mind for… well, life in general. **

**The journey of a thousand miles may begin with a single step, but the courage to take that step is born from the support of friends, family, neighbors, and even complete strangers. Courage is born from confidence, and confidence is born from hope. Hope is the final light in the darkest of days, and was the last being to remain in the jar Pandora opened. It was opened out of curiosity, the parent of creativity and knowledge. Hold curiosity and hope close to your heart, and all the universe shall bend to your will at the tips of your fingers as they pull the words from thin air, creating and crafting a new look at life, another pair of eyes to see through. Weave your tales and spin the yarns of stories lone gone and yet to be, fellow writers. We are artists in our own rights, sculptors of a landscape to be seen only by the mind's eye, painters of realities and travelers of worlds. Go on and change the world as you will, and inspire others to do the same. Words move people, and people as a unit can move not just mountains, but planets, maybe even galaxies to their whim. Become the change this world needs, and beckon others to do the same, for we are not just storytellers. We are chroniclers of other worlds, like ours yet not. We can see into these other universes and bring them to life here, springing up more and more until every dimension has been discovered without our knowing and is welcomed with open arms. We were all put here by whatever higher being decided to create us, and we must respect each other to honor this deity. We must learn to coexist without war, without hunger, without hatred, for these are the things that needlessly tear us apart. Peace, abundance, and ardor is what will bring us together, and it is this harmony that will further our understanding of the world and the universe it lies in.**


End file.
